Serene Detachment
by EmiJ
Summary: NaruSasuNaru / AU Naruto brings Sasuke along for a short boat vacation to enjoy the beginning of warm weather, but is unexpectedly forced to endure drifting away with the current and finding himself, and his guest, stranded on an empty beach with nothing but forest behind it.
1. Day 1

**A/N:** Normally I write one-shots but I think I'm going to make this a multi-chap for once and see how it works out. Also I have no idea how boats work so if I fucked something up, I'm sorry. I'm going to do my best to please you all so I hope you enjoy!

* * *

><p>Sasuke is pissed at me, as usual. But his office job is seriously stressing him out and it's about that time of year where it's getting warm enough to head out on the boat again. I usually go with the entire friend group (minus Sasuke because he's "busy"—I think he's scared of boats), but I feel bad for always leaving Sasuke out. He's my best friend and never ends up wanting to go, so this can just be a me-and-him thing this time. It'll be fun either way because I'm entertaining enough for the both of us. He's pissed because he doesn't want to come, as usual. He doesn't think I'm "experienced enough" to drive the boat around. It isn't hard, my dad taught me and I do it all the time with our friend group. He probably is a big pussy who's scared of the Pacific Ocean. Well he's going to have to endure it for a couple days while we're out.<p>

It's a perfect day to be on the water. The sun is so bright and there's not a cloud in the sky. The large white sailboat sits near the dock as I walk ahead of Sasuke. He groans and sighs and the sun is already giving him a small sunburn on his cheeks. Good thing I brought sunscreen. His pale ass is gonna need it. He has a small bag with him which probably contains boring shit, like books, and his change of clothes. I have a little basket of stuff—a cord to hook my music up to the speakers on the deck, sun screen (mainly for Sasuke), a couple hats, food for a couple days (junk food and crackers), and a gallon of water. Everything else we need should be on the boat already because my dad had already readied it for us earlier in the morning. So sweet.

I look behind me and see Sasuke squinting his eyes so hard they almost disappear entirely. I tilt my head up to see from under my sun hat. "Did you not bring sunglasses?" I ask.

Sasuke's unbuttoned pale-blue flannel gently flows with the soft breeze. It goes well with his tan shorts. His white undershirt wrinkles as he folds his arms. "You didn't tell me to." Bitch, why do I have to tell you to bring fucking sunglasses.

I control my anger. "There's probably an extra pair in the cabin, don't worry."

"I wasn't worried," Sasuke snaps. Damn, maybe I should have left him at home. I set my stuff down on the sole of the boat and motion for Sasuke to head over, as well. I see him frown and try as steadily as he can to step onto the boat without falling. He falls onto the boat anyway and drops his bag. I laugh hysterically, naturally.

"Ahahahahaha! Oh shit, get up, you bastard," I laugh as I extend my hand to him but he sneers with a 'fuck you' and pushes himself up and grabs the strings of his bag.

"I knew I shouldn't have agreed to this," Sasuke mumbles as his hand wipes his face.

"Awh, you don't mean that, teme, you needed some fresh air. This trip will be good for you!"

"Whatever."

I set things up: I turn the music on, check the lines and set them, inspect absolutely everything to make sure the trip to nowhere and back won't scare Sasuke so much, but I'm sure my dad's already checked everything or he wouldn't have given me the go-ahead. This boat is like his second child. I tidy things up that my dad missed, set a sunhat on Sasuke's head, and hand him a pair of sunglasses and the gallon of water to refill his bottle. He drank his entire bottle of water on the walk here. Way to be hydrated I guess. Or nervous.

The boat gently rocks as tiny waves hit the sides before I unwrap the rope keeping us here from the post and throw it onto the bow. I check up on Sasuke. He's just staring out at the water. Maybe he's alright with this now. I walk past my basket to pick up the bottle of sunscreen and throw it at Sasuke. He easily catches it and undoes the cap. Good, he listens.

I head to the wheel and steer us into the pacific.

* * *

><p>About a half hour into our two-day trip, Sasuke is heaving. He smells like sunscreen and vomit. I should have brought some Dramamine or something, but I didn't think he'd get this sick. I notice a bright red duffel bag on the floor of the cockpit with a note on it.<p>

"Just in case.

Love you,

Dad."

I unzip it to find a shit ton of emergency stuff. Thanks for believing in me, dad, damn. He even put a pack of protein bars in here. Ew. I zip the emergency bag up before I head to my basket of shit and grab a pack of saltines for Sasuke and sit next to him on the flat floor of the deck. My hand touches his when I hand him the pack of crackers and he mumbles a 'thanks' as he pulls it open. I didn't think this mini vacation would be babysitting Sasuke. I know he can take care of himself but I feel bad, like it's my fault he feels so shitty. He'll lighten up. Hopefully.

We sail along, sitting next to each other on the floor, and I try to chat with him about the girls we know but he doesn't open up, like normal. Maybe he just isn't interested in any of them. He isn't really contributing to the conversation at all though. He would usually at least insult them but he just isn't talking. Sasuke abruptly jumps up and leans over the side of the boat to puke up the crackers. It lasts a good minute or so before he wipes his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt and returns to his spot next to me. "Teme, do you want me to take you back? I feel kinda bad about your shittiness."

"I'm not shitty."

"You are throwing up over the side of the boat."

"So what."

"You are fucking difficult, you know that?"

"I've heard it once or twice."

"Alright well be prepared for two days of upset stomach, then."

Throughout the day, I snack on various junk food and Sasuke continues nibbling at his crackers and downing his water. The entire gallon is gone before it gets dark. Not a problem, though, because my dad left a few in here for us along with that emergency bag. God bless that man. I try to calm Sasuke down by talking about things and getting his mind off the rocking, but he just gets angry.

"Shut the hell up, idiot, I'm not a baby. I don't—" he's interrupted by his gurgling stomach. "I don't fucking need a mommy, I'm a grown man!" He gets up again to throw up over the boat, and more crackers spill from his stomach.

"You sure are. Look at you, throwing up like a champ." I smirk at my own remark and Sasuke's scowl doesn't phase me.

I grin bigger when he says, "Fuck you. I should have taken your opportunity to go home when I had the chance."

"Well you're stuck with me until tomorrow now. Hahahaha get over it, asshole."

Although the day was perfectly clear and hot, when it hits night there are a few clouds in the sky and it turns almost chilly. Nothing too bad though, I can still see the stars. I lie down on the deck and Sasuke follows suit. What a follower. Maybe he just wants to stay safe so he goes where I go?

We don't talk for at least an hour. We lie there in the dark, illuminated by natural light, admiring their purpose as clouds slowly accumulate.

"Dammit, the weather guy said it was going to be clear both days. I hope it doesn't rain tomorrow," I say. If it rains on teme's poor belly I'm going to shit on someone.

"I'm sorry," I hear Sasuke mumble.

It really catches me off-guard. I turn to look at him and ask, "What?"

"I don't know, I didn't want you to have a shit time but I really can't enjoy myself. I feel like shit. I really wish I stayed home," Sasuke explains. He appears almost guilty and won't look me in the eye.

"It's okay. I shouldn't have forced you to come," I start. "I just wanted you to enjoy yourself instead of always working."

"I enjoy working," Sasuke tries to convince me. He sounds almost insulted.

"Yeah fucking right," my tone is a lot harsher than I intended it to be. "You always have bags under your eyes and can't ever focus because your job stresses you out. Doesn't it feel good to get away from it for at least a couple of days?"

He turns to look at me. "Honestly, I would rather be working than sitting in a puddle of my own vomit on a boat with someone who gets on my last fucking nerve," Sasuke spits. Wow. Well, alright.

"Well if that's how it is, fine. Sorry I bothered. I won't invite you anymore if that's what you want." What started as an apology turned into attacking me, like… what the fuck, Sasuke the Drama Queen should be his nickname. I know he's just mad about his upset stomach, so I should give him space.

I push myself up and head into the boat's cabin while Sasuke continues to lie in the clouded starlight, clutching his torso. His hat's fallen off and is sitting by his head with his sunglasses tucked inside it.

The cabin is kind of nice. It's clean, at least. Two white couches face each other with a small pathway in-between them. Behind them is a short hallway leading to a bathroom and a small bedroom. I head to the bathroom, take a quick piss, wash my hands, and then head into the bedroom. Dad must have put fresh sheets in here. He was seriously on it this morning. I crawl onto the bed and don't even get under the sheets. I stay on top of them and close my eyes and hope the morning comes soon to put Sasuke out of his misery.

* * *

><p>My eyes snap open when someone, obviously Sasuke, shakes me awake. His eyes are wide and afraid and he's completely soaked.<p>

"Whoa, what happened, Sasuke? Are you alright?" The boat rocks almost violently.

He is breathing so hard. He's totally panicked. "S-s-storm, there's a storm, Naruto, there's a fucking storm, what the fuck do we do? Oh my God what the FUCK DO WE DO!?" His voice is trembling and his words run together.

Just a storm? "Sasuke, it's okay, there's storms out here all the time, it'll be okay, don't worry."

"Are you sure? Are the waves supposed to be that big?" He's totally panicked.

"Calm down, it's alright," I actually feel really bad for him, he's like a child. Horrified. I scoot off of the bed and pull open the blankets I was just lying on top of. I push the soaking flannel off of his shoulders and down his arms. I reach for the bottom of Sasuke's undershirt. "Here, take this off, and climb into the bed, alright? I'll go check things out." A 'grown man' my ass. I bet no one has seen this side of Sasuke before. I didn't know Sasuke was seriously afraid of anything. Sasuke is stripped to his boxers and clutching the covers so tightly while he is engulfed in the comfort of soft sheets. I hear him, very innocently ask, "Hurry up," and then he tries to recover some of his pride with, "Dumbass."

I turn to head out onto the deck and whisper, "It'll be okay," to Sasuke. Maybe to myself, too.

The door slams back against the wall as soon as I open it. Sasuke wasn't exaggerating. The waves have to be at least 17 feet high. I've seen higher, but never while I've been the one in control of the boat. My dad could take care of this no problem… but I, I don't think I have enough experience. Lightning is bright across the sky, in an almost endless stream. The boat rocks from side to side. Each time waves crash harshly against the sides, water floods the deck. One comes up over my head and I'm immediately drenched, as if I wasn't already from the piercing rain.

I take down the main sail, which I curse myself for not doing before I fell asleep. I watch as Sasuke's hat and sunglasses are grabbed by a wave and pulled into the ocean. I grasp the things that remain on the deck (Sasuke's water bottle, one of his books, a half used gallon of water) and bring them into the cabin. I wrestle with the wind to shut the door and when it does shut, it's with a loud _bang_. I drop the soaked belongings onto the floor and pull my shirt off as I head back to the bedroom to check on baby Sasuke.

God, he is pathetic. He's tucked himself under the covers and all I can see sticking out are his dark spikes of hair near the headboard. A wave crashes into the side of our vessel and I stumble onto the floor. I get up and grab onto the bed before another wave repeats the action. "You alright, Sasuke?" He moves the blanket away from his face and he has a slight blush of embarrassment. His eyes are still large and afraid.

"Is it okay? Is this normal?" He immediately asks.

Should I lie? If I tell him the truth he's going to be even worse. I see his face lose color and I quickly run to the entrance to get a bucket exclusively for this purpose. I reach Sasuke before he pukes into it. He looks at me, embarrassed again, and repeats his question. "Are we going to be alright? Naruto?"

"Yes. Yes, we're going to be fine Sasuke, don't worry. This is normal. I've been in worse situations, believe me," I lie. "Do you want me to get your bag for you?" He might want to put his sweats on or something, if he brought some. He nods. I run and get it for him—tripping more than once from the boat's swaying—and then change into my own dry clothes. I come back to now-Sasuke's bed. The entire room moves up and down and side-to-side. "Scoot over," I demand. He complies and I lift the covers to scoot myself in. "I know it'll be hard for you, Sasuke, but try to get some sleep. It'll pass before you know it. Just as fast as it showed up, it'll be gone." He looked at me extremely skeptically. I lie on my back and tuck an arm under my head.

I almost find sleep, until a very cold hand grabs onto my arm.

* * *

><p>It happens so fast. You never expect these things to happen to you. But here we are. Sasuke was asleep, clutching my arm as tight as he could with his nervous, slender hands. The rocking may have made Sasuke nervous, but began to lull me to sleep. I was so close. But I'm glad I never found it. A hard wave hit the boat and instead of rocking, the boat broke. Windows shattered and water began pouring in through the broken glass openings. Nothing too major yet, but there was another wave.<p>

And another.

And another.

Sasuke was already jumping out of the sheet and putting a black, long-sleeved shirt on. His eyes were alarmed and his hands… I've never seen Sasuke's hands shake so horribly. I quickly threw on clothes, as well. I ran to the other side of the bed and grabbed Sasuke's arm to pull him along with me. Water buried our feet as I hurriedly tried to get Sasuke out of the cabin. Now, he's having another panic attack and I don't have the nerve to tell him I'm on the verge of one too. I've never had to deal with this either, God dammit! What am I supposed to do? The rain is wicked—stinging and cold. The wind is fierce and Sasuke clutches my hand as tight as he can. What am I looking for? What am I doing? …The life raft! Where the fuck is the life raft!? The rain makes it almost impossible to see anything. I look around frantically for the poor excuse for a safety device. I spot it within the next minute, pull the tab to inflate it, and push it over the edge of the boat.

"What are you doing!?" Sasuke screams. The water is making his hair stick to his face. He's terrified. I've never wanted to give Sasuke a hug as bad as I did right then, but there were more important things to do, like save our lives.

"We have to get off of this boat!" The waves make it so hard to hear even while we're yelling right next to each other. Sasuke falls down from the wetness and the rocking. He doesn't try to get up. He just sits there in a sad puddle of defeat, staring at the floor. "The cabin is almost entirely underwater! This bitch is sinking, Sasuke! And I'm not letting us go down with it! Get in the life raft, now!" He looks down at the orange, sorry-excuse for hope, and climbs down as slowly as possible. I immediately follow him and I push us away from the boat. I use the included paddle to get us far away so we don't sink along with it when the entire thing falls. I glance at Sasuke. On his knees in disbelief. Can't say I'm much different.

We are in awe. Sitting in the bright orange life raft, the tent-like hood gives us no relief from the rain as we stare at my dad's pride and joy sink into the Pacific Ocean. He's going to kill me. Then I realize… the supplies. The emergency bag my dad left us. There's no way in hell we would live out here without it. A week at best, and what if no one finds us by then?

I can't fucking believe this. "I… have to go back," I say barely above a whisper.

"What?!" Sasuke yells. "No, you're staying here, I'm not letting you go back there!"

"Sasuke! If I don't, we will die in days!_ Days_! We won't last without those supplies! If anything, you'll get more room for yourself in this dinky raft." I smile at my sad attempt at a joke in this situation and dive into the water.

"Naruto!" I hear Sasuke scream. He screams it over and over, loud and bloodcurdling. _Naruto! Naruto! _I'm not going to be the reason we die. I'm going to die trying. The sailboat is almost entirely underwater. I swim to the top, what would be the bow, and take a deep breath before diving down. I manage to open the door to the cabin relatively easily.

But where is it?

Where is the bag? I don't remember where I saw it. Was it in the cabin? No… No it was in the cockpit. Fucking hell! I go deeper, it's after the cabin. It's so dark, I can't see a fucking thing. My head gets so light and I'm losing my air. This can't be where it ends… But I feel it. The strangely thick fabric of the duffel bag. It's caught on the ledge next to the wheel. Talk about luck. I grab it, sling it around my neck and try as hard as I can to make it back to the surface. I'm still running out of time.

This boat could totally sink at any minute and take me with it. I break the surface and swear I have never taken a fresher breath of air in my entire life. Sasuke is still screaming my name. Didn't know he loved me so much. Maybe he just doesn't want to be stuck out here by himself. Haha how am I still making jokes, he would love that.

I swim back to the orange raft and hear the relief in Sasuke's voice, "Oh shit, oh thank God, you're okay, and you got the bag." He reaches his hand out and helps me into the raft. We watch the ship sink together as our little raft drifts away at the mercy of these merciless waves.

My heart sinks to my stomach when I look at Sasuke's face. He's so understandably bewildered. This is almost the worst thing that could have happened. But least we're both alive.

Sasuke quiets down, but still manages to throw up into the ocean a few more times before calming down a lot. The waves calm, as well. We fall asleep that night closer friends than we were earlier, but if you ask me, this is definitely the beginning of our troubles.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'll update as soon as possible with a new chapter! Hope you like it so far. (:


	2. Day 2-3

**A/N:** I really enjoy writing this. Mostly because I always watch survival-type shows and wanted to read a story about Sasuke and Naruto in this kind of situation, but they seem to be in short supply. So I thought I would contribute. [[One note: It also helps to read this while listening to the Explosions in the Sky station on Pandora.]] Anyway, don't worry, romance between them will come, we just gotta let the story live its own life and wait for these beautiful boys to grow together. (:

* * *

><p>So we drift.<p>

We drift into seemingly nothingness as the waves calm and the clouds part and the night turns into day. Sasuke fell asleep, finally. He has to be worn out. I am. I haven't slept at all. I'm sure someone will notice we're gone when we don't show back up tonight, but I'm mostly stressing out about my dad. He'll be glad I'm okay but also kill me because his damn boat is at the bottom the ocean. What am I going to do? That boat was his life.

I glance down at Sasuke, who has his head next to my thigh. The life raft is large enough for each of us to lie down next to each other side by side, but he's curled up in his wet clothes sleeping close to me instead. I sit crisscross and lean against the back wall of the raft (if you can call it a wall, just rubbery fabric really). I run my fingers through Sasuke's hair and attempt to relieve him of the excess water in it. The last thing I want is for one of us to get a cold on top of all this. And Sasuke is sure to get sea-sick again.

"I'm so sorry, Sasuke," I whisper. His hair is so slick. His bangs have almost completely dried but the back of his head is still soaked. I lightly muss it up with my hand and free more water droplets. "God, I am so fucking sorry. I really hope we make it out of this."

We are at the mercy of the sea. I roll the front flap of our tent-like raft up the rest of the way, so it stops flapping around, and tie it with the attached strings. Ocean. All I can see is ocean. There is no land anywhere. No boats. Nothing.

However, the sunrise is beautiful. I've never seen anything like it. The deep blue slowly fades lighter and orange rays prove the sun's existence. I feel hopeful. We'll definitely be out of the ocean by nightfall. My dad has to know about the storm by now. Hopefully, he'll try to get in touch with the boat's radio. Once he can't reach us, he'll be out here. We won't have to wait until tomorrow after-all, I'm sure.

Sasuke stirs. I realize my fingers are gliding through his dark tresses again and I quickly pull my hand away. He had only been sleeping for maybe an hour, I hope he isn't waking up yet. He needs rest. Also, I don't want him to yell at me again. I'm too exhausted.

Sasuke lifts his head and dreamily looks out the life raft's door, propped up on his elbow. I see the corners of his mouth sink, and his head falls back to where it was previously. I pull the big duffle bag into my lap and unzip it. Good thing this thing is waterproof. Damn, dad really did pack absolutely everything in here. From a blanket, to a flashlight, to a knife, to a first aid kit and matches. There's more than that but I'm mostly focused on grabbing the12-pack box of protein bars because I'm fucking starving. I pick two out and dangle one in front of Sasuke's face. He's still staring at the ocean but smacks the food out of my hand.

"I don't want it."

"Sasuke, you need to eat something."

"I'm not hungry. Besides, I'll probably just puke it back up."

"Well we have the—oh. No, the saltines were on the boat, weren't they?"

"Not like that would help anyway," Sasuke said. It sounded like he was trying to make me feel better about it but I just feel even worse. My stomach comes up my throat when he unexpectedly adds, "We're going to die out here."

"Fuck you, Sasuke, don't say shit like that! My dad will notice something happened, alright? He probably knew about the storm and when he couldn't reach us, he probably sent someone out here. He knows where we went so…"

"Does he also know how far and in which direction we're drifting? We don't even know where we are, idiot. The current is pulling us to God knows where. We have, what, one pack of food and a gallon of water? How long will that last? We can't drink sea water. We have no way of making a fire on this rubber tent. We're done."

I'm shocked. How long has he been awake thinking about this? Did he feel me touching his hair, oh shit. That's the least of my concerns right now, though. Sasuke's right. He isn't an idiot and I should stop treating him like one. We're both new to this situation so we need to suck it up and … well what can we do? Wait, I guess. Suck it up and hope someone out there will find us.

* * *

><p>I guess I fell asleep for a little bit. I lost my watch, but I'm guessing it's around the afternoon. Sasuke doesn't seem nearly as seasick as he was on the boat. He's still staring out into the ocean. He looks so damn sad. His knees are up to his chest with his arms wrapped around them. His chin rests on his arms as his now-dry hair occasionally moves with the slight breeze from the sea.<p>

When I move to get comfortable, he turns to look back at me with a subdued expression. Does he blame me? "You should drink some water," Sasuke suggests. "It's getting pretty hot already. The shade from this raft won't keep you from becoming dehydrated." And with that, Sasuke turns his face away from me again. I decide to take his advice and grab the water gallon from the bag and take a couple gulps. I offer the jug to Sasuke, who just shakes his head. "I'm not thirsty yet."

"Sasuke, please drink some."

"I said I don't want—"

"—God damn, stop being so fucking difficult. Take your own advice and drink some damn water."

Sasuke pouts and snatches the gallon from me. He sips at it over the course of a half hour, but I still think I drank more in a couple gulps than he did the entire time he had the gallon in his grasp.

* * *

><p>It grows dark and I'm trying my hardest not to scarf down every damn protein bar that's lying in the emergency bag. I'm so fucking hungry. I've eaten two today, though. Sasuke hasn't even eaten one. I offer him one for the fifth time today and he refuses again. After about ten minutes of silence, Sasuke breathes a sharp gasp. It scares me and I stare at him as he grabs for the emergency bag.<p>

"Sasuke, what the—"

He interrupts me. "A ship. There's a ship! God dammit, Minato, if you truly love your son—Ha! Yes! God, fucking—" My eyes widen. A flare gun. Sasuke's eyes well up with tears. He's laughing, relieved and sad and excited. His fingers fumble with the package. He throws the plastic container into the water once the gun and flare cartridges spill onto the floor of our raft. I stare out into the ocean and I'm not even sure it's a ship. It's just a light. And it's all the way on the horizon, which is two or three miles away. But God damn, I'm going to put my trust in this stupid ship and we're going to go home.

Sasuke starts yelling, "Hey! HEY!" while he fills the gun with a cartridge. He raises it to the sky and fires with a _POP _and a _FFFF_. The red flare is bright and demands attention. It smokes and curves down and the light diminishes. I remember the flashlight. My dad left a flashlight. I hope he remembered batteries. I hurriedly dig through the bag and pull out the flashlight. It easily turns on. God bless you, dad. I wave the light around and yell along with Sasuke.

After a few minutes we quiet down from sore throats and I only wave the flashlight.

Then we wait.

And we wait.

Eventually Sasuke's smile fades. The assumed-to-be ship disappears. Sasuke's adrenaline dies and he slumps down. "It didn't see us," he starts. "How the hell didn't it see us?! We are right fucking here! How can you miss the damn flare in the black hole we're floating in!?" He picks up the remaining four flares that became scattered to the edges of the raft from all of the excitement. He holds them in his palm and just stares at them.

"We still have four more, teme, more ships will come along, I'm sure." I try to console him but he's not having any of it. I understand, though. He's never been one to be optimistic. I scoot close to him and wrap an arm around his shoulders to bring him to me. "It'll be alright! We've got each ocher! And someone has _got_ to know we're missing by now. We were supposed to be home hours ago. They'll be everywhere looking for us tomorrow, don't you worry, teme." I smile at him, but his frown is still there.

* * *

><p>The ocean cools the night significantly and I ask Sasuke to zip the raft's flap shut. I'm freezing and hungry and tired. Shit, I want to go home. I look at Sasuke, who is curled up in a ball again. I open up the emergency bag, remembering the foil blanket my dad packed. Was this bag just meant for me? Because everything in here is like, single serving. Should I give the blanket to Sasuke? If we only use it on our arms, it could lay across both of us. I go with the latter.<p>

I try not to rock the raft too much as I crawl over to Sasuke. He's lying on his side, and I press my back to his as I lie down. He doesn't seem to mind. I take the foil blanket, and when I lay it horizontally across us, Sasuke grabs a hold of it immediately. I feel him pull it close to him as he tries to capture heat from my body, too, by backing into me as much as he can. His shoulder blades practically stab me; this asshole is too skinny. I'm going to try and get him to eat something again tomorrow. He didn't puke or dry heave or anything today. Maybe his body is finally adjusting.

A silent 'thank you' escapes Sasuke as a relieved sigh. I'll take it. "Goodnight, Sasuke."

"Goodnight."

* * *

><p>When I open my eyes in the morning, Sasuke is already awake. He has the flap rolled up and tied, and he's sitting in front of the opening like a child waiting for his father to return from work. I push the foil blanket to the side and wipe my eyes as a giant yawn escapes me.<p>

"Sleep well?" I ask.

"Not really," he replies. "You move too much in your sleep." As if the raft constantly moving from waves had nothing to do with it.

When he turns around to look at me, his eyes are bloodshot, half lidded, and he has dark circles under them. "Holy shit, you look awful."

"Fuck you, at least I don't look like a dobe all the time."

"Did you not sleep at all?!" Sasuke doesn't respond. He just turns back to look at endless blue waves. "Did you eat anything? Drink anything?" Sasuke continues to ignore me. "Shit, you need to eat something." I dig in our vault and grab a protein bar. "If you don't eat this teme, I'm going to beat the crap out of you." I toss it into his lap. He stares at it a while. If he doesn't get something into his system and get some rest he's going to have serious issues on top of the ones we already have.

Slowly, he tears open the wrapper and takes a bite of the protein bar. About fucking time. "This tastes like shit," Sasuke tells me between chews. I see him struggle to swallow it.

"Get the hell over it. And you have a cup of water to drink afterwards. Quit telling me to take care of myself when you don't take care of yourself, asshole." I hand him the jug of water. I hear him groan.

"My stomach doesn't want anything," he complains with a mouth full of protein bar.

"Well it needs something." I eye him until he finishes the protein bar and drinks a decent amount of water. We should be conserving it, but not drinking any at all would hurt us even more. Especially in Sasuke's case.

He twists the lid back onto the jug and tosses it into the corner.

* * *

><p>For hours we sit in silence. Hours. The only time either one of us gets up is to take an occasional piss out the front of the raft. I decide to limit myself to one protein bar a day and eat one when it hits late afternoon. Sasuke… I would let him eat every damn bar if he wanted, but it's hard enough just getting him to eat <em>one<em>. I did end up getting him to eat another one, though. Seven left.

I don't want to even think about how much water is left. I know there's less than half a gallon to share and I honestly have no clue what to do once that's gone. I heard once that the ocean is the largest desert. And unfortunately for us, there's not even a hint of a lie in that statement.

* * *

><p>When night does finally come, I ask Sasuke if he wants to play a game. I expect him to say no, but he turns to me and immediately comes out with a 'yes'. I guess his mind needs to be exercised.<p>

"Okay," I start, "The game is super simple. We start with a category, such as 'colors' and we go through the alphabet naming off a color that starts with that letter. And it has to go really fast. First person who can't think of something right away loses."

As expected, he picks it up easily. He's beaten me twice already. The category now is 'Animals'. I start with, "Anaconda."

"Bear," Sasuke says quickly.

"Cat."

"Dog."

"Elephant."

"Frog."

"Goose."

"Hamster."

"Iguana."

"Jaguar."

"..uh, fuck! Dammit!" I lose. Again. I shouldn't have brought this damn game up.

"You could have said lots of things. 'Kangaroo' for Christ's sake. Who wouldn't think of that?" Sasuke asks.

"Shut up, asshole! I was feeling pressured!" I'm kind of just messing with him now. I'm happy he has some personality back, even if it's at the expense of my humiliation.

We continue to play our alphabet game until it's very dark and very cold. It's awesome we found something to take our mind off of this situation. I'm going to try and come up with something else in-case we get bored of this. I wish I didn't have to come up with a new game, but I honestly doubt we'll be saved anytime soon. Sasuke was right. How far off have we drifted?

I shut our raft flap and reach for our sorry-excuse-for-a-blanket again. I feel like an old married couple when I ask Sasuke, "Ready for bed?"

I expect a snide remark, but he just nods his head and crawls over to me, where we slept last night. Not that he had to crawl very far.

He lies down next to me, so I follow suit. I drape the skinny foil blanket across our arms again. I turn to my side, facing away from Sasuke, but I don't feel him shift. He's still lying on his back. He never sleeps on his back—at least he hasn't while we've been out here.

I roll onto my other side to face him. "What's eating ya, teme?" He's staring at the orange rubber ceiling, closes his eyes, and… cries. Not a whimpery, sniffling cry, but a soft, subtle line of a tear falls down to his ear. One after the other. His arms come up and cross over his face as if to hide the evidence of the fact that he has a soul. He takes the softest sniff through his nose.

"Oh, Sasuke…" It fucking kills me to see the sea break someone as stoic and cool as this man. I reach over him and wrap my arms around his torso. "God dammit, come here." He quickly wipes his eyes with his shoulder's sleeve and turns to hug me around my neck.

Sasuke's beautiful voice cracks when he says, "This is it, isn't it? We _are _going to die out here."

I press my cheek against his. "Sasuke, don't," I whisper.

"Naruto," he says shakily. "I'm not ready to die yet." And my heart breaks. "I don't want to die out here." This is all my fucking fault. Sasuke didn't want to go. I should have went with his gut feeling rather than thinking he didn't want to go just because Sasuke was being Sasuke.

"Hey, hey listen to me," I say softly. I start stroking the back of his head. "It's only been a few days. They won't give up the search yet, trust me. And we still have a few days' worth of protein bars…" I don't mention our dying water supply. "We've got each other and I'm not going to give up, and I'm sure as hell not going to let you give up. We're in this together, okay?" I murmur. "You are not alone right now. You have me here." His hands clench the back of my shirt and I pull the shitty blanket around Sasuke's back.

We're in this together.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I'm so sorry this has taken so long. I had two papers to write for a couple of classes. Only ended up writing one. Now I'm stressing about my other one, but I'm writing more of this anyway haha. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. (: I'll update as soon as possible so these boys' love can blossom and probably become good and dirty—as you all seem to love. I know I do.


	3. Day 4-5

**A/N:** Enjoy!

* * *

><p>Again, I awaken to Sasuke staring out the front of the raft. I silently scream as I reach the end of my yawn with my arms so high they smack the top of the tent. I throw the foil blanket to the side of the raft to give us, what, an extra three feet of room? This is just sad.<p>

I run my hands through my hair. "Oi, Sasuke," I start. He turns to look at me. That exhausted, sunken face greets me again. "God damn, dude. You need some rest. Did you not sleep very well again last night?"

"I'm fine." Even his voice is defeated. He sounds so beat. Never thought I'd say this, but I miss the cold-hearted shit-stain he used to be. I miss normal Sasuke. This isn't Sasuke. I reach for our bag and look at our dwindling supply of protein bars. I grab a couple and hand one to Sasuke. As he picks up his hand to grab it, I realize how much energy he's lacking already. It's only our fourth day out here and already Sasuke looks like he hasn't slept in two weeks. The stress of this situation on top of barely any food or water and no sleep… he's a mess.

He daintily takes the bar from my hand and it falls to his lap almost immediately. He looks down at it. After I finish eating the first half of my bar (I'm saving the other half for later), Sasuke is still just staring at his. I pick it up for him, unwrap it and place it back in his hand. He holds it in front of his face and after a couple seconds, starts to take small bites out of it. "You can have another one if you're hungry later, too, alright? You aren't doing too good, teme…"

"I'm fine," he repeats. It takes him, I'm guessing, around twenty minutes to eat the five-inch long protein bar. He looks better already. I pick up the jug of water and hand it to him. He obediently takes a couple gulps and hands it back to me. "Thank you," he says. That catches me off-guard a little. Sasuke never thanks anybody for anything. It sounds so weird coming from him.

I pat him on the head. "You need rest."

"I can't sleep on this thing."

"Yes you can, here I'll lie down with you and I won't move until you wake up, alright?" I see him roll his eyes because I'm babying him. But shit, if he wasn't acting like a baby I wouldn't have to baby him. Sasuke doesn't realize that the ocean is so easy for me. I feel almost as good as I did when we left the dock the first day. Of course, I'd feel better with more food in my stomach, but I'm not doing too bad, I don't think. Sasuke… Sasuke looks like he's on his death bed.

He lies down on his back with his arms behind his head and his knees in the air because he hasn't stretched his legs out. I lie to the right of him, as usual, and hand him the blanket. He uses it long-ways for himself. He relaxes his legs to lie them flat and the blanket is long enough to cover his feet as well.

"Now, get some actual sleep, Sasuke."

"I can try." He turns his body to face me and I watch his eyes close and his knees fold up.

It doesn't take very long. Sasuke finds sleep relatively easily, it seems. So why is it he's always so exhausted? Does he just wake up too often? I turn my body to face his. He looks so peaceful now. He's sure to feel better after sleeping for a little bit. I reach my hand out and run my fingers back through his bangs and glide my hand around to the side of his face. His mouth is slightly parted and I can see his perfect teeth shining behind chapped lips.

I run my thumb along his bottom lip. I've kissed these lips before. Lots of times when we were in high school. They were mostly just quick jokes that would really piss him off. I laugh to myself about it now. Wow, he would always get so angry.

One time we were sent to a birthday party because our parents were friends with the kid's parents. We had both seen the girl around town before. We didn't go to the same school or anything, and we weren't really friends with her but she had the biggest crush on Sasuke from the few times we did run into her. What girl didn't, though, right? Of course, Sasuke couldn't stand her. He hated the way she put on her makeup, hated the perfume she wore, hated how bubbly she was—everything I loved in a girl.

Anyway, at her party she was following us everywhere (mainly Sasuke, whose side I was stuck to because we only knew each other there), and Sasuke was pretty annoyed with it. I told him I had a plan and that he had to go with it so she'd leave him alone. I didn't particularly mind her following us around, but my ride-or-die Sasuke has always come first.

He seemed really reluctant, but I did the typical "no-he's-gay-and-also-my-boyfriend" thing. I held his hand when we walked and he death-gripped mine. I leaned my head on his shoulder but he would bounce it up really hard to slam against the side of my head. Haha the part I'll always remember is when this girl followed us to the snack table corner. Sasuke sighed so hard and rolled his eyes when she strolled over, so I placed my free hand around the back of his neck (the other hand was still holding Sasuke's) and pulled his face to mine. It was a long kiss. I kissed him softly and lovingly, more than once. His lips moved against mine, too, and by the time I pulled back, the girl was gone and Sasuke was red with embarrassment. No girl I've ever kissed had lips as soft as this boy's. I found myself comparing everyone I kissed afterwards to the night at the What's-Her-Name-Again? birthday party. To this day, I still wonder if I was only acting back then.

But he's probably forgotten all that by now.

Running my thumb over this man's lips now, hard and chapped from dehydration… it hurts my heart. This isn't the Sasuke I know. It's my fault things are the way they are now. We could be at home, hanging out, watching a movie or he could be doing work from home while I play video games at his place… but instead I'm taking care of him. Almost having to force him to eat, drink, and sleep.

Combing his sleek hair with my fingers, I lean over and place a short, apologetic kiss on his cheekbone. I see the corner of Sasuke's mouth turn up in the smallest smile.

* * *

><p>I try to pass the time by myself while Sasuke catches up on his sleep. I roll onto my back and think of ways to modify our alphabet game. I come up with stories to tell him (mostly embarrassing) about my life that might cheer him up when he's awake. I try to think of how to save these last five protein bars, but I can't think of anything other than trying to increase the time between eating; that's already hard enough. I still have the other half of mine from earlier, though. I'll give the spare one to Sasuke. I look to the water jug; a quarter left.<p>

I let out a huge sigh. Maybe if it rains we can conserve the water somehow. But it's been bright and relatively warm for a few days now, and there aren't any clouds in the sky. Oh, Sasuke. What are we going to do?

* * *

><p>It turns to night and Sasuke is still asleep. For a second I think he's dead and have to put my ear next to his mouth to make sure he's still breathing. Which he is. He's okay. His bangs are flopped to one side, probably from when I was playing with them, and one of his arms is stretched out as if he's limply raising his hand. His skin is so pale and smooth… how can someone with hair as dark as he has have no excess body hair whatsoever? I lightly brush his bangs to the side some more with my fingers. I feel so coarse compared to him. I run a tan finger over one of his eyebrows. Even these… almost no hair out of place.<p>

I look out the front of the raft. The moon is absolutely brilliant tonight. Full, bright, and beautiful. For a moment I think of waking Sasuke to share this moment with him and give him a little hope that there's still good in Mother Nature, but who knows when Sasuke will be able to sleep like this again? I'm going to let him take advantage of this.

I know it may sound selfish, but I'm glad I have Sasuke here with me. Granted, I wish we were under better circumstances, but I wouldn't want to be with anyone else in this situation. He's my best friend. I can hardly even stand being awake while he's asleep because it's so lonely. I wonder if he's dreaming, I think as I eat the other half of my protein bar and discard the wrapper to a corner of our raft.

When we were in middle school we used to stay the night at each other's houses all the time. Sasuke was a huge sleep-talker. I used to mess with him a lot and have conversations with him that he wouldn't remember. "Right, Sasuke?" I say, barely above whisper.

"Hn," Sasuke groans. Oh shit.

I lean closer to him and whisper, "Sasukeeee, guess who?"

"Mmm."

I sit up on my knees with my hands in my lap. I lean down to his ear. "Guess who, Sasuke?"

"Naruto…"

"Good job, Sasuke. So where are we going?"

"To hell," he mutters.

"Well, close enough," I say as I laugh to myself.

"Where's the remote?" he babbles.

I decide to play along. I really shouldn't because he used to have a tendency of waking himself up in the process, and he needs to sleep. I go ahead anyway. "Where did you last leave it?"

"In… the living room. I don't need a babysitter, though. I'm twenty-four."

I start laughing again. He calls _me_ a dobe? "Who says you need a babysitter, teme?"

"Mom. She doesn't get it…" he mumbles. My heart comes up my throat. I already don't want to play this anymore. He rubs his face against his bicep. "She told me not to get on the boat."

I start choking up. "What boat, Sasuke?"

"Yours."

My stomach sinks. "Why would she tell you not to get on my boat?" I know why.

Sasuke's sleepy voice gets very quiet. "Were you there? I'm sure she would be alive if you could have looked after her…"

Is that why he can sleep so well now? Because I'm watching over him? Sasuke's mom died when we were kids. She went sailing with some of her friends and she drowned in the middle of a bright, sunny day.

He said he was over it, but I should have known this is why he's so afraid of boats. And even when I went back to get the emergency bag when our boat first sank, Sasuke was begging me not to go back to get it… Is this why he felt so strongly?

Water is beginning to fill my eyes. "Your mom loves you very much, Sasuke," I choke out. I stare down at my fists in my lap and my eyes close tight, trying to prevent the tears from coming. How could I cause my best friend this much pain? How could I ignore something like that? A cold palm suddenly finds my cheek.

"I know." Sasuke says in a clear voice. I look into his open, dark eyes. He looks serene. His eyes seem accepting. I lean down and hug the absolute shit out of him (gently of course). I feel his arms embrace me. A moment later, I lean back to look into his eyes again, but they're closed. His bangs are sprawled out across his forehead. His arms fall to the floor of the raft.

He's still asleep. I grab one of his hands and bring it to my face. I give it a long puckered kiss and set it back down until I close the raft's flap and lie next to Sasuke to get some shut-eye myself. I grab his hand again and lace our fingers together. And with the image of Sasuke's beautiful mother in my mind, I drift off to sleep.

* * *

><p>I awaken like the other few mornings—yawning, stretching, and seeing Sasuke already up and staring out of our raft door. I immediately remember the conversation I had with sleeping Sasuke last night and I'm worried he will have remembered it. But to my pleasure, Sasuke turns around with a refreshed face and his regular attitude, "About time you woke up, dobe. You've been sleeping forever." I don't think I've ever smiled so big in my life. I knew all he needed was sleep.<p>

I immediately lunge forward and give him the biggest hug of his life. He yells at me to get off but I don't listen. My Sasuke is back. The dark circles are gone for the most part, his eyes aren't bloodshot, and he's a usual ass. Wow.

"Seriously, get the fuck off." I keep my grin as I release my grip.

"You seem to be doing better, teme! Ready for breakfast?" I joke. I pull out a couple protein bars. Three left.

I hand one to Sasuke and he snatches it from me. We unwrap our gold together and I break half of mine off to save for later. Sasuke eats the entire thing. I glance up at his hair.

"Nice bedhead."

"Shut up," Sasuke snaps. I know he cares though because he tries to straighten it out with his hand. "I wish I could take a fucking shower," he adds.

I suddenly get an idea. It's stupid, but God dammit, I'll take it. I pull my shirt off over my head and lean back in the raft to push off my pants.

"Hey, what the hell—" Sasuke says, shocked.

"I'm washing off! You don't have to look. But I know you want to," I tease with a wink. Watching Sasuke blush is the most satisfying feeling. He looks away as I slip off my boxers, toss all my clothes into the corner, and dive out the front of the raft.

As expected, he calls after me. "Naruto! What the fucking hell do you think you're doing!? You're going to get swept away by a current! Or this raft will be and you won't be able to catch up!" Thanks for believing in me, asshole.

God, it feels so good to rinse off, even if it's in saltwater full of fish shit. My legs are happy to finally be getting some exercise, too. I wish Sasuke would lighten up and get in when I'm done. I want at least one of us to stay with the raft. I swim around on my back next to the raft and Sasuke avoids looking at my naked body. So respectful. It's not even like we haven't seen each other naked before. Who cares?"

"Can you get back in the raft now?" Sasuke half begs from inside the raft, which is seriously like six feet away.

"Nahhh." I wash my hair a little, if you can call it that. I stretch my legs by swimming around some more before I decide I should probably get back in the raft before Sasuke starts crying.

Thanks to me, there is water absolutely everywhere now. Not that it really matters; the sun will dry it all up as long as the raft is kept open.

"Your turn, Sasuke!" I say, still naked. I'm waiting to dry off before I put my clothes back on.

"Yeah right, I'm not getting in there!"

"Oh c'mon, it's actually really nice. Unless you want me to start calling you 'Stinky Sasuke' you better get your ass in there." He scowls at me. "I'll hold your hands and you can just be right outside the raft's opening, okay?" Sasuke groans. I reach over to him and start pulling off his shirt.

"Hey! I'll do it myself! God damn!" He pushes me away and starts to undress, but I don't have Sasuke's manners, so I stare the whole time. Sasuke doesn't get as flustered when I stare as he does when I'm undressing. I'll never understand him. After his clothes are all off, he slowly starts lowering himself into the water off the side of the raft. "It's too cold!"

"Quit being a pussy, just jump in."

"No!"

"Sasuke, come onnnnn," I plead. And that does it. Or, maybe he just slipped. Either way, he's totally soaked in the water now and he's super pissed about it.

"Here," he pouts as he holds out a hand for me to grab onto while he washes himself with the other one. He runs his hand through his hair and around his face. "That does feel really nice…"

"What'd I tell you?!"

"Yeah, yeah. I'm gonna tread water a little so my legs can feel less cramped up."

For a good ten minutes I hold onto both of Sasuke's hands while he just kicks his legs underneath him. Then he dunks his head under one last time before climbing ass-naked into the boat with me. I'm mostly dry now, I could get dressed whenever, but I like this better than with clothes on. Besides, now the raft has water in it from Sasuke and if I get dressed my clothes will get wet.

We end up just sitting with our knees up to cover our dicks, not that it really matters, but it's what Sasuke is doing so I'm just copying him.

"Felt nice, huh?" I ask.

"Yeah it did. Now I need a toothbrush." He'll always find something to complain about, shit.

"I know. I've just been using my finger as one every day, but the saltwater doesn't make my teeth feel that clean," I say.

"Same here," Sasuke replies.

I like this usual conversation we're having. It's making things seem a lot more normal.

"I came up with a better version of the alphabet game," I tell Sasuke. He looks intrigued. "Okay, we do what we did last time, but we have to repeat everything the other person said first, then say our word. Same rules, but now if you can't remember a word, you lose. So with animals, I would say 'Ape' you would have to say 'Ape, Bat,' and I would say, 'Ape, Bat, Cougar', got it?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke says.

So our game begins.

I say, "We'll start with colors. Apricot."

"Apricot, Brown," Sasuke says.

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson," I say.

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun," says Sasuke. What the fuck is dun?

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun, Ebony."

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun, Ebony, Fuchsia," Sasuke says. Why is he so fast?

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun, Ebony, Fuchsia, Green," I say.

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun, Ebony, Fuchsia, Green, Hazel." I know I'm about to be doomed.

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson, Dun, Ebony, Fuchsia, Green, Hazel, Indigo," Sasuke says quickly.

"Apricot, Brown, Crimson," I'm trying to think of something, "Dun, Ebony, Fuchsia," I'm done for. "Green, Hazel, Indigo…" Sasuke's too good at these games. "Fuck, I don't know."

"Jade," Sasuke says within half a second.

"God dammit, why are you so good at these games?" I pout.

Sasuke leans in close to me. His mouth rests next to my ear and I can feel his warm breath on my skin as he whispers, "Because I'm not a dobe," and leans back with a smug grin. "Let's do furniture," Sasuke suggests.

I groan as over-exaggeratedly as I can.

"Armchair," Sasuke starts.

"Armchair, Bed."

"Armchair, Bed, Couch."

"Armchair, Bed, Couch, Dresser."

"Armchair, Bed, Couch, Dresser, End Table," Sasuke says. I would have never figured anything out for 'E', I'm glad it was Sasuke's letter.

"Armchair, Bed, Couch, Dresser, End Table, Futon."

"Armchair, Bed, Couch, Dresser, End Table, Futon, Garbage Can." What the fuck, I don't get it. How does he come up with these?

"Armchair, Bed, Couch, Dresser, End Table, Futon, Garbage Can, Headboard," I say. I am so proud of myself right now, alright.

"—Garbage Can, Headboard…" I'm cringing with excitement. There's no way Sasuke will come up with anything for—"Infant Bed."

"Sasuke, what the fuck!?"

"I win," he boasts with his haughty grin again. He's too smart for his own good.

We play our game for what seems like hours and it doesn't get old. I've only won once and it wasn't really an "official" win because Sasuke was yawning so he took too long to answer.

We're both dried off along with the inside of our raft by the time we stop playing, so we dress ourselves. I watch Sasuke the whole time, hoping he'll catch my gaze, but he doesn't. He ruffles his hair once he's fully dressed and finally catches me staring at him.

"What?" he asks accusingly. He has the harshest glare.

I'm so glad he's back. I pick up our pitiful water jug. "Thirsty?" I hold it out for him.

"Thanks…" He only takes a couple tiny sips before twisting the cap back on and giving it back to me. My mouth is so dry. I take a couple sips, as well, and it's like I'm not even drinking it. It's just being absorbed into the walls of my mouth. Either way, it feels amazing.

* * *

><p>By the time it's night, Sasuke is huddled up into himself. Tonight is <em>really<em> cold. I closed the raft door about an hour ago, if I had to guess a time. Our teeth are chattering and we're trembling and we don't even talk as I move closer to him. We lie down holding each other and shivering together. I pull the foil blanket over our arms again and reach over Sasuke to tuck it underneath his back and he does the same for me. We're like a burrito. As he pulls himself back from tucking the blanket underneath me, his cheek glides against mine and the tips of our noses touch. I want to lean in and kiss him, but I'm afraid.

I never used to be afraid, I would just lay one on him all the time. In front of people, even. So why is it now that I'm suddenly nervous? Is it the intimacy of our situation? Sasuke isn't moving away. Our noses are still touching and his eyes are fixated on mine. I rub a hand up and down Sasuke's back, trying to warm him up a little more. His hands move up from my back to wrap around my neck. My heart is beating out of my chest. My shivering from the cold is turning into shivering in anticipation. He moves his face closer, and closer… I feel his warm breath on my mouth and a second later he places a gentle, chapped kiss on my lips. He doesn't say any words. He dips his head down so my chin rests on his forehead.

What are you thinking, Sasuke? It's so hard to read you...

But for once, Sasuke sleeps through the entire night, and I awake before him in the morning.

* * *

><p><strong>AN:** I hope you guys like this chapter! I know, I know, y'all want them to find land. Maybe they will soon. Who knows? (: Please review! Your support inspires me!


End file.
